


Love Game

by meretricula



Category: Cornetto "40 - love" Commercial
Genre: Documentation, F/F, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 18:46:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2822369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meretricula/pseuds/meretricula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“I’m on the internet again,” Debbie said fretfully. “Someone from the Wall Street Journal recognized me. I knew I should have worn bigger sunglasses.”</i>
</p>
<p>Wimbledon 2015: Maria is still on the court, but this time Debbie is in the stands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Game

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moriann](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moriann/gifts).



> Many thanks are due to [redacted], who told me to just get off my butt and write something already. ♥

**Tennis Ace Gets By With a Little Help From Her Meme**  
Matthew Harkness, Tuesday, 30 June 2015, Wall Street Journal

Maria Fernandez, currently ranked seventh in the world coming off a surprise semifinal run at the French Open, is usually a fleeting sight on the grass at Wimbledon. In point of fact, she has never in three years of main draw entry progressed to the second round. Ms. Fernandez, an Argentine by birth and a clay court player by preference, once famously described herself on the turf as “a beached shark”. Her opening match, against 124th-ranked Yulia Andreyeva of Russia, was therefore hardly a guaranteed victory, and Court Four was crowded on Monday with spectators eager not to miss watching the glamorous Ms. Fernandez play. One observer in particular, however, drew nearly as much attention as the match: Deborah Reese, the young line judge who briefly rose to fame during the U.S. hard court swing last summer as the “Ball Girl” Internet meme, after being struck in the face by Ms. Fernandez’s serve. She attended the match as Ms. Fernandez’s guest. Fans of Ms. Fernandez may hope that Ms. Reese will be a repeat visitor: Ms. Fernandez defeated Ms. Andreyeva 6-1, 6-2. 

*

“Would you please put down your phone and pay attention to me, your girlfriend who just won a match at Wimbledon, for at least thirty seconds?” 

“I’m on the internet again,” Debbie said fretfully. “Someone from the Wall Street Journal recognized me. I knew I should have worn bigger sunglasses.” 

“If you had worn any bigger sunglasses your sunglasses would have been bigger than your face,” Maria pointed out. “So what if someone writes about you on the internet? All they can say is that you have a very beautiful and very talented girlfriend.” She leaned in for a kiss and got a mouthful of hair as Debbie turned back to her phone. 

“Oh god, what if someone online thinks I’m your girlfriend?” 

“You are making it very difficult for me to celebrate,” Maria complained. “Maybe they think you are my girlfriend, maybe they think you are my friend. Maybe they think this is a publicity stunt my agent set up and really I hate you. Who cares?” 

“But if someone outs you — “

“No one is going to ask me, ‘Maria, there is a woman in your box, is that your girlfriend?’” Maria said. “No one is going to ask one of the other players, ‘Maria has a woman watching your match today, is that her girlfriend?’ So it is only gossip, whatever, spec — spaco — “

“Speculation,” Debbie offered quietly. 

“Speculation, yes. Always there will be speculation on the internet. I cannot live my life afraid to go outside with you in case someone on the internet thinks we are together. And if they do…” Maria shrugged. 

“You wouldn’t be embarrassed?” Debbie challenged. “If someone wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal saying you were a lesbian?” 

“Embarrassed? Why should I be embarrassed? Maybe one of my sponsors drops me, qué pena, that is why I pay my agent. I am still beautiful and very good at tennis. So, all they can say is that I have a very beautiful and talented girlfriend, no?” 

Debbie smiled, but she still shook her head. “I bet your dad would disagree.” 

“Please, Papa loves you. Papa wants you to come to all my matches forever because he says I play better when you watch me.” 

“Wait, really?” 

“Who do you think told me to invite you? He says to me, ‘Maria, mija, this year we rent a house, three bedrooms, you invite the lineswoman who fixed your serve to come stay.’” Maria’s grin lit up her whole face. “Of course I do not tell my papa you will sleep in my bedroom, he thinks we are waiting till marriage, but that is not important.” 

“M—marriage?” Debbie stuttered. 

“I am not asking now!” Maria said hurriedly. “We are very young, and we have not been dating so long, and I don’t have a ring yet, so — anyway, let Papa go to bed first at night, okay? He sleeps like the dead, he will never notice if you come up to my room after he goes to sleep.” 

“Assuming kind of a lot there,” Debbie said, finally recovering. 

“Oh, um, well,” Maria said, turning red. 

Debbie let her flounder for a few moments longer before taking pity. “Hey, look, I didn’t say you were _wrong_.” 

“Oh?” 

“Yeah.” 

This time Debbie was waiting for the kiss, and it was definitely worth waiting for. It was also, unfortunately, interrupted by Maria’s father opening the door. “Maria, mija — ah, sorry.” He stepped back, closed the door again, and knocked. 

“Come in, Papa,” Maria called, and added a muttered, “sorry,” to Debbie. He opened the door and came in as if he hadn’t walked in on them kissing a moment earlier, smiling warmly at Debbie before saying something in rapid-fire Spanish to Maria. “Ah, Papa says do you want to change before we go out to dinner? He made reservations at Roka tonight so we can celebrate my first win at Wimbledon.” 

“Oh, I — Mr. Fernandez, you don’t have to — I can stay home and get takeout, there’s no need to — “ Debbie stammered, flustered. Maria murmured a translation. 

Maria’s father smiled even wider and patted her hand. “Now you are family,” he said carefully. “Of course you eat with us. And you call me Agustin, no?” 

“Oh, well, I — thank you,” Debbie said helplessly. 

“You can wear one of my dresses,” Maria announced, interrupting the moment with practiced ease. “I think they will fit. But just for tonight! Tomorrow, maybe you go shopping while I practice.” 

“But I want to be at your practice,” Debbie protested, allowing herself to be towed over the the closet. Agustin retreated, still smiling, while his daughter yanked out hangers seemingly at random and threw them on the bed. “And I don’t need a new dress.” 

“Okay,” Maria said indulgently. “Middle Sunday, I will take you. It will be easier if I am there to choose for you, anyway.” While Debbie sputtered in indignation, she leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I told you, no? Papa loves you. But wait until he is sleeping to come up to bed!” 

*

**WIMBLEDON  
** July 1, 2014  
Maria Fernandez

_LONDON, ENGLAND_  
M. FERNANDEZ/G. STEVENS  
6/4, 6/4

**Q: Seemed like a pretty straightforward match from where we were sitting.**  
MARIA FERNANDEZ: Well, I think it was not so straightforward to play, no? She is a tricky player, and the crowd here, they love her very much, because she is English. And for me, on grass, never easy.

**Q: So do you still feel uncomfortable on grass? You’re into the third round, you’re doing much better.**  
MARIA FERNANDEZ: Third round is better than losing in the first round, yes! But of course I am still — uncomfortable is a good word. I am better on clay. I know it, you know it, the other girls know it.

**Q: Have you looked at the draw yet, do you know who you’ll be facing next?**  
MARIA FERNANDEZ: No.

**Q: It’s Isabella Marconi, she just finished her match.**  
MARIA FERNANDEZ: Well, she will be a very difficult match. She is a very smart player, she can mix it up, serve and volley, slice, dropshots.

**Q: Was that Ball Girl sitting in your box with your father again?**  
MARIA FERNANDEZ: Debbie? Yes, of course. I will have to invite her to all my matches now, no? She is my lucky charm.

**Author's Note:**

> Maria's description of herself playing on grass as "a beached shark" is a reference to Maria Sharapova's [famous remark about her resemblance to "a cow on ice" on clay courts](http://sports.yahoo.com/tennis/blog/busted_racquet/post/The-genesis-of-Maria-Sharapova-s-cow-on-ice-co?urn=ten-wp1229). Maria in the commercial is so obviously based in part on Maria Sharapova that I couldn't help myself. Also, a note on Maria's dad -- obviously the Tennis Dad/Coach stereotype is based on reality in a lot of cases, and from what little we see of him in the film, he's a candidate for the Piotr Wozniacki Overbearing Tennis Dad of the Year Award. But I didn't want to play into the stereotype, so I didn't. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of loving, supportive tennis dad/coaches out there too!


End file.
